Football Devils kick off Capps era

             Hal Capps couldn’t be still. It was by design.

             Rays of sunshine, and an increase in temperatures, finally broke through the heavy clouds during the first official football practice of the season at Mooresville Senior High on Monday.

             Once again, there’s light shining on the Blue Devils, and the heat is on for them to perform.

             Remnants of the previous fall’s 0-11 campaign, the first winless season in the program’s history, were hard to find, starting of all places at the head of the team’s coaching staff.

             New head coach Capps, with a state title ring and four state finals appearances to his credit in 18 seasons at Western Alamance High, patrolled the practice field behind the school for some three hours in the middle of the unseasonable afternoon, as the Devils ran through a variety of first-day drills.

             “Discipline, gentlemen, discipline,” Capps told his players.

             The opening clap of the huddle on the Capps era began crisply at the 2:30 p.m. mark Monday, it doing so under threatening skies, unseasonably low temperatures and the threat of mid-afternoon rain storms.

             Capps is the third head coach at Mooresville in as many seasons. He replaced Steve McCurdy, who suffered the winless record in his only season here, then resigned.

             On Monday, once Capps guided this year’s team through a couple of attempts at organizing the team box that will be put into use both at the start of all practices and again at the end, the 100 or so players engaged in stretching exercises before dispersing into their various position areas for more specific drills and instruction.

             Capps constantly roamed the field, taking time to take in the activities at each of the stops and paying close attention to the majority of the players that he knows for now mainly by their assigned practice jersey numbers.

             Players on the field were designated as those performing on either the offensive or defensive side of the scrimmage line by the color of those jerseys. White-clad players were those designated for offensive duty, while those intended for defense donned blue jerseys.

             Like all other early football camps, more emphasis was placed on conditioning and repetition of various exercises than in any other area in particular for a first formal practice session, while there were some areas that were emphasized more than others.

             Near the end of the session, offensive and defensive units squared off in a series of plays with limited contact taking place only incidental in nature.

             For the most part, nearly all of those in attendance participated in program-related activities conducted during the off-season by way of weightlifting, competing in passing league games and/or attending a number of mini-camps leading up to the official start of preseason practice.

            By the time Monday’s practice ended, there were areas of blue sky present for the first time in more than two days, and an increase in the temperature was noticeable.

             Mooresville will adhere to the regular weekday afternoon workout schedule with all players decked out in shoulder pads, helmets and shorts for the required number of sessions before donning full gear for more contact-specific practices beginning early next week.

             The Blue Devils make their only pre-season scrimmage appearance at Kannapolis Aug. 12.